Quote of the Day

"We're only here briefly, and while I'm here I want to allow myself joy. So fuck it."

- Amy, Her.

Sunday, 18 March 2012

The Pledges

What? Google Images was lacking today...

Over the past few weeks or so, I've made some pledges to myself for the sake of integrity within my very own mindset. Whether it's to avoid spoilers, honour a piece of work or just stay sane, these act as little bite size rules for the very dangerous life as a teenage writer/geek/swimwear model.

Avoid Second Trailers
Movies are awesome; there's no argument in that. Therefore with the oncoming arrival of a hotly anticipated release comes the slew of media coverage and trailers that give us a glimpse of how the film's going to look, sound and feel. But sometimes, when you watch all the trailers released before a movie's opening, the film gets a bit "When is that line going to come?" or "I wonder how they'll work that scene from the trailer into the unfolding plot..." .

To counteract this unyielding wave of destructive spoilers, I've decided that second trailers are a no-no. Half the time I know I'm going to watch the movie anyway, so what's the point on getting more sold on it? I know some go entire blackout on stuff like this, which I'm sure works out great, but I seriously don't have the will power to give up trailers altogether, and that very first glimpse is all too desirable to forget. After all, what would happen to our beloved Trailer Tuesdays if I went ultimate cold turkey on those good ol' three minute peeks? No, so it's first trailers only from here on out.

Reject "Follow Backs"So Twitter; that huge social networking, micro-blogging, up-to-date powerhouse that fills up (usually unproductively) a good part of the day. In some minds - the ones which I like to call the clever minds - it is a media tool to both share your experiences/thoughts/feelings/work and feel a part of someone else's, be it celebrity, friend or web-outlet. But then there are those who see it as a popularity contest: high school on a global scale. And so the "I follow back" is born.

I'm sure you savvy Twitterees know what I mean, you may even do it, which isn't such a bad thing if that's your thing. But I cannot get my head around the phenomenon: why would I want to clog my timeline up with a bunch of people's useless tweets about football or food or whether they just showered, just so I can gain a few more people to view mine within the same degree? If I'm following someone it's because I respect them, admire them, or socially know them and do it in a show of friendliness, not because I merely want their follow. Seriously, a few extra numbers on a pixelated web page is hardly worth the compromise of truly earning followers who want to follow you for you.

Read The Book First

These days, it's getting increasingly harder to find a film that wasn't based on an existing franchise before its production, typically focusing its literal lenses on a previously successful novel. Now in an entirely hypercritical notion against the trailer rule, whereby spoilers are the aim of the game, I'm going to try and understand the issues of "Why'd they miss that chapter from the film" and what-not, by reading the book before hand when possible.

Obviously this can't happen for every single film with literary roots, but it's the least I can do to get the most out of a film, and perhaps appreciate it and the original author's work a little better. There's actually an existing scheme in place online here, where you can "Take The Pledge" yourself to "Read First" wherever humanly possible. You may even notice that new widget down the sidebar expressing the promise, just as my friends over at He Said She Said have done too.

Watch The Proper Airing
It can be inexplicably frustrating to discover that one of your favourite shows is going to take a number of months to reach your own airing shores. So much so that unfortunately many of us turn to unofficial internet streaming (outside of iPlayer, Netflix, etc) to get our fix, neglecting the show of its all important ratings to keep it afloat in the ruthless age of television. Sure, you may think my one viewing won't really matter, but if everyone thinks that then they've just lost out of an extra .5 million rating.

Which is why I'm taking this pledge, to support our shows and keep them on air. Here's the rules for it:

New Show That Takes A Few Months: Wait for it.
Beloved Show That Takes A Few Weeks: Wait for it.
Beloved Show That Takes A Few Months: Wait, unless absolutely necessary to stream, i.e. To talk about with friends.
Beloved Show That Takes Indefinite Periods of Ridiculous Time: Stream

As you can see, I'm not perfect on this, because some shows just take too long to get here *Cough*Community*Cough so I feel literally forced by my need for this. To balance this out, I make sure I pick up the boxset when it releases or just re-watch them when they eventually do air. It worked for Heroes, which is why it managed to still get 4 seasons; yep, that was all me.

Well, there's my pledges for you. Why not think up some of your own and stay more disciplined for it, or carry on living the happy-go-lucky, do-as-I-please lifestyle that you've already got going on, you untameable beast, you.